University of California President Yudof to Step Down

University of California President
Mark Yudof said he will step down at the end of August and
return to teaching on the flagship Berkeley campus.

Yudof, head of the 10-campus system, said he has faced “a
spate of taxing health issues” in the past 18 months, according
to a statement today. He has served as president since 2008.

The university system has struggled with drops in state
support, which Yudof called “one of the most severe challenges
in its history.”

“Now, it appears the storm has been weathered,” Yudof
said in the statement. “We are not fully in the clear, but we
are much closer than we were even a few months ago.”

Since 2007, tuition and fees at the campuses have increased
by $5,556 or 84 percent, as the state reduced its contributions,
according to a Jan. 10 budget message from Governor Jerry Brown.

Brown’s proposed budget for the year beginning July 1
provides a 5 percent funding increase to the University of
California. The system should be able to avoid tuition increases
by “deploying their teaching resources more effectively,”
Brown wrote.

The announcement comes as the system is already getting new
leadership. Nicholas B. Dirks, Columbia University’s executive
vice president and dean of the faculty of arts and sciences,
will lead the Berkeley campus as its 10th chancellor, beginning
in June.